“This book of the law shall not
depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will
make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8).
Moses is dead, and after 40 years
of wanderings Israel is poised to enter its inheritance under the leadership of
Joshua. (See Numbers Chapter 33 for a survey of the wanderings.)
The book preceding Joshua is Deuteronomy,
in which Moses recapitulates God’s Covenant along with potential blessings and
potential judgements. In Deuteronomy 34:5 - 6 we read, “So Moses the servant of
Yahweh died…and He [Yahweh] buried him…”
The Biblical flow is Deuteronomy,
with its emphasis on God’s Word; and then Joshua, which continues an emphasis
on God’s Word.
A point in all of this is that God’s people cannot enter into their
inheritance without knowing the Word of God and obeying the Word of God. Nor
can God’s people possess additional inheritance as well as maintain
what they have already acquired without living and abiding in the Word of God.
In the Kingdom of God there is no
such thing as an inheritance obtained apart from the working of the Word of God
and the knowing and obeying of God’s Word. Those that would teach otherwise teach cheap grace and are not teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, this
all occurs in Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ – the interplay
of Christ and His Word and the Christian is a sacramental mystery; and indeed
it is a great mystery in that through God’s promises (which are found in His
covenantal Word) we become “partakers of the Divine Nature” (2 Peter 1:4). To
receive the Word of God is to receive Christ, to obey the Word of God is to obey
Christ.
As we stand at the threshold of a
new year, is Joshua 1:8 a reality in my life?
In your life?
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